GameStop's console streaming service will require retail game purchase

@Timjoy
Wet dream come true. For me and the lawyers that would defend the console makers.

@Timjoy
As someone who is sitting at work on my gaming laptop, it would be awesome if I could boot up one of my Xbox games. Yes, I have a ton of games on steam, but if I feel like playing one of my xbox/ps3 games, I'm out of luck.

Still hoping the rumor that Windows 8 will play 360 discs is true.

@Timjoy

I figured as much some months back, this would be how GameStop's cloud business model would work. And now that it is out in the open, I can say that while there are lots of things nice about being able to play your console games on the go, especially the exclusives, the business model is as broken as ever, and two very good reasons why OnLive (and likely every other cloud service) may be a better proposition for gamers.

1 - First off, OnLive does not charge an extra fee, or hidden fees at all, or even so much as a subscription fee, to play new release games. And definitely not an additional fee on top of the full price you just paid for the game. You buy the game once from OnLive, at one price, and it is yours to use on any device that will connect to the network. Be that your television, your blu-ray player, your PC, your Mac, laptop, your netbook, your iPhone, your Android device, your iPad, your Windows 8 tablet, or one of OnLive's MicroConsole devices - no additional fees involved.

2 - Gamestop requires you to first pay for the game at retail. Sounds like a good deal, you get a physical copy. Right? Maybe. But you also pay full price for every game, and it is highly unlikely that publishers are going to allow Gamestop to give you unlimited cloud access to games you purchased used. So you will always be stuck buying new games at full retail price. Again, does not seem like a big deal, as that is what 90% of gamers are already used to . . . that is it does not seem like a big deal until you realize that other cloud services are undercutting retail prices significantly for brand new games. I'll give you several examples, and these are a list of games I have personally purchased, on or near their launch dates, and the prices I paid for them:

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (two weeks after launch) $12.50
Duke Nukem Forever (day of launch) $24.98
Red Faction: Armageddon (two weeks after launch) $24.98
Tropico 4 (day of launch) $7.00
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (day of launch) $17.50
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine (day of launch) $17.50
LOTR: War in the North (day of launch) $8.75
LA Noire: The Complete Edition (one week after launch) $17.50
Saints Row: The Third (day of launch) $17.50
Batman: Arkham City (day of launch) $17.50

And no, those are not pre-owned prices, as there is no pre-owned or used games in the cloud. This is simply the case of the low overhead associated with the cloud allowing publishers to pass on those savings to direct to the consumer, in the form of frequent sales events. This is simply a pricing structure that a brick and mortar retailer can never match. And Gamestop especially is not exactly a retailer which is ever going to pass on any savings of any kind, directly to the customer. The fact that Gamestop requires you to purchase the physical copy of the game up front, and then pay an additional fee to access it from the cloud, are the two biggest assurances they can never hope to match a pricing structure that every other cloud service is likely to call 'business as usual'.

Not saying there are no advantages to GameStop's cloud, after all, GameStop very likely will be the first to gain cloud access to console exclusive titles like Uncharted, Halo and Mario. Just saying that when you are still paying $60 (plus tax, plus the cloud service fee, a price that COULD see you paying upwards to $75 for per game) for new release games that see release same day and date as gamers on other cloud services are paying less than $20 each for, that's a pretty bitter pill to swallow, especially as cloud technologies continue to improve to the point where they are truly indistinguishable in every way from playing locally.

@Tachyonic Cargo That's an awful lot of comment for unofficially announced plans. This is all total speculation on the part of a GS exec and your comment speculates even more. GameIndustry.biz should go back and give June its news.

@Tachyonic Cargo

Wow. Where are you getting all of those games for $17.50?

@Sk8erMikez

When I used to work at GameStop I would always get Chick-Fil-A on my break since there was one right across the street. Best part of my day.

@Sk8erMikez

Chik-Fil-A is overrated soggy chicken.

@Sk8erMikez
Chik-fil-A is friggin awesome.

@Faenix

Not to start anything here, but paying to purchase a game and then paying more for an extra service sounds a lot like Live. This proposed Gamestop service at least adds a unique feature that wasn't initially included with the purchase of the game. .

@DigitalImpulse Oh come on, I mean, they did pretty bad things in the past but they aren't GameStop.

@DigitalImpulse What's a "swatchka?" Is that what Nazis used to pick out their upholstery?

PS to GuitarHero666... that was a chuckle-worthy comment. Upvote for you, and I don't even have any beef with GS.

@TurbineTech Ultraviolet tech has almost nothing to do with GameStop and everything to do with the MPAA. Warner Bros offered it to GameStop, GameStop accepted.

@AGuyOnTheInternet

Why do you think they did that? Its cause they were in the process of getting an online-like service

@Faenix
onlive-like*

@AGuyOnTheInternet Which I think makes it even shadier, personally. It's like Walmart deciding not to sell Kraft Macaroni and Cheese because they offer a competing cheese flavoring packet.

@Kinthalis I feel like Sony and Microsoft would really take issue with that simple of a plan. Sure, they see some money on the game sale, but how does it work developing games for a console nobody is using (not that it would happen, but you know what I mean).